Conveying and pressing apparatus.



No 788,602 PATENTBD FEB. 28, 1905.

. 0. s. WHEELWHIGHT.

CONVEYING AND PRESSING APPARATUS. APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 5. 1904.

SBHEBTS-SHEBT 1.

lllmlifmlll f @Mamwm W e :7 wwm m No. 783,602. PATENTED FEB. 28, 1905.G. S. WHEBLWRIGHT. CONVEYING AND PRESSING APPARATUS.

APPLIGATION FILED NOV. 5, 1904.

3 SEBETS-SEEET 3.

gwmnl ow J wits Lama h MM/LXM M I 11/471 flllx/acl/oi dbl/74 New 83,602.

ilivirnn Smarts Patented February 28, 1905.

iU rricls.

CHARLES STOREY WHEEL'WRIGHT, OF BRISTOL, ltllOllE .lrtLANl), ASSIGNOR TOAMERICAN EXTRACTUR. COMPANY A UOltPOlt/illON Oh MAINE.

@ONWlEYlNGi MNU i FIlESEHWtL-i i tl i r tl ii i i'tifit.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 783,602, dated February28, 1905.

Original application filed May 24, 1906i, Serial No. 209,553. Dividedand this application filed November 5, 1904. Serial No. 231,598.

To all whom. it non/ I; concern.-

Be it known that I, CnAnLns S'ronnv /V'n'nnnwni'on'r, of Bristol, in theState of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful Improvement inConveying and Pressing A p paratus, of which the following is aspeciiicz tion.

The object of the invention is to convey tankage or refuse from a vesselin which garbage or ofi'al has been subjected to the hot- Water processfor the removal of melted grease therefrom to a drying apparatus orplatform, where it may be dried for Fuel; but it is obvious that theconveyor and presser is applicable for other uses. The invention,however, will be described as adapted for use with a rendering plant.

The invention consists of a long water-tight cylinder provided with acarrying-screw litting its inner periphery and extending to near the endoi said cylinder, perforations in said cylinder and suction-boxesworking in connection with said perforations, an extension to saidcylinder, a valve in said extension at some distance from the end ofsaid screw lilling the inner periphery of said extension, and an out letin said extension, whereby material saturated with water and accompaniedby water dumped into said cylinder loses its free water through said'iertorations and suction-boxes and is borne along by said screw untilit packs under the influence of said screw in the space between the endof said screw and said valve, when the valve being opened the tanliageas a continually-forining stopper passes under the Force of the screwout of the opening controlled by the said valve.

A device for imparting Frictional resistance to the wet material passingthrough the conveyer and. presser that it may not merely turn in thescrew and fail to be carried along forms an important feature of theinvention.

The invention consists, further, in details of construction.

in the drawings hereto annexed and 't'orming a part of thisspecification, Figure 1 is a longitudinal view of the conveyor andpresser,

together with so much oi a digester, watertank, pump, and connectingpipes as is necessary for an uiulcrstanding oi the invention and itssaid use in combination with a rendering plant. Fig. 9. is alongitudinal crosssection oi the conveyor and presser, showing withinthe cylinder the conveying-screw, the suctionboxes, vibrating plate orfin, and valve, with mechanism for o 'ierating the valve. liig. 3 is across-section of said cylinder on a still larger scale, showing,however, only two lins. Figs. 4 and 5 are details.

A represel'its so much of a d igcster as it is necessary to show in adescription of the apparatus by which the above-mentioned process asrelating to garbage is conducted. A pipe A, by which live steam is fedto the digester, is also shown. The digester has a valved outlet A, nearthe bottom thereof, oi a diameter as large or even larger than that ol?the cylinder next described and with which the said outlet communicatesnear the closed end oi the cylinder, as shown.

B is a long cylinder, through the center ol which, closely iitting itsinner periphery, is a sixteen-inch screw C. This is the dimension of thescrew actually used by me and, from it the dimensions of the remainingparts of the apparatus may be read i ly ascertai n ed ,al though I. donot limit myself to the dimension shown. The cylinder 13, provided withlugs (/(l, sup ported upon standards ll. An extension ol the cylinderbeyond the screw is n'iarh'ed it, which may be 01'' dill'erent lengths,but is o t the same diameter as cylimlcr l"), and beyond this extensionB is a second extension 15"" oi sub stantiallythesame d iameter, whichis provided with an outlet at B. The screw (l is secured to said shai'tE by splines and a feather c and revolves with said shalit, whichextends out side of the cylinder 1% through the extensions 1B and 13".The said shat't E has bearings or supports at v in the end piece it oi?the cylinder B, (1 being a collar surrournling the shaft and set intothe screw, as shown, 1/ being a ring of soft metal between said screwand the end piece B, and a being disks ol sol t metal,

between the shaft E and said end piece B, as

shown, and at e a long box supported upon a standard D outside of thecylinder B and its two extensions B and B The shaft E carries a largebeveled gear G, into which takes a small beveled gear (not shown)carried upon the counter-shaft of the driving apparatus. The extreme endof the cylinder B is provided with a head ri in which fits a packing-boxI, provided with a gland 1, the office of which is to furnish a suitablepacking or bearing for a hollow shaft J, moved on and along shaftE by ahand-wheel J, a nut J rigidly connected with said hand-wheel, and ascrew-thread J upon said shaft E, the said movable shaft J carrying withit a valve-disk K, provided with teeth K K, as shown. The valve'disk Khas a seat at L in the rim of the extension of the cylinder B, and thepeculiar shape of the face of the valve directs material or tankage sentforward by the screw C and packed or packing in extensions B B downwardout of the outlet at B at any position of the valve-disk as removed anydistance from its seat by manipulating hand-wheel J. The valve, whateverits position longitudinally in extension B constantly revolves with theshaft E, and thereby with the help of the teeth K K breaks up thematerial forced forward by the screw 0 and directed toward the outlet BM M are two suction-boxes, similar to those used in paper machinery fora like purpose, operated by two suction pipes or outlets N N inconnection with perforated plates 0 O, set into and forming a part ofthe cylinder B. These suction-boxes are of peculiar shape and are hingedto the cylinder B, being so far removable therefrom as to permit of theremoval and insertion of the perforated plates 0, as will presently bemore particularlydescribed. It is sufficient for the present to pointout that the two suction-pipes N N, the principal ofiice of which is todraw water from the cylinder through the plates 0 0, connect with aforce-pump N, which feeds a pipe N emptying into the top of the digesterA or the top of a water-tan k N, extending lengthwise alongside of thedigester, accordingly as valves shown in connection with said pipes aremanipulated. This tank N is provided with a pipe Ni opening from thebottom of the tank and communicating with the outlet A from the digesterbelow the valve therein. It is provided with a check-valve and anordinary valve 1 1 The pipe N has valves N N N and is provided with abranch pipe N communicating with the top of the digester from betweenvalves N and N and in turn provided with a valve N The ofiice of thevarious valves shown in the drawings is obvious. One of thesuction-boxes is shown at Fig. 3 in cross-section, together with theperforated plate and adjacent parts of the cylinder and devices by whichthe suction-box is hinged to the cylinder, so that the suction-boxfalling back on the hinge the perforated plate may be removed from thecylinder. one of the suction-boxes, and Q is one of the perforatedplates set into the cylinder B. is one of several bars to support orhold up the perforated plate 0, the said bars being cast with the box M.The box M is hinged to the .cylinder B (see Fig. 5) by means of two lugsb 7), cast on the cylinder, afork m m, cast upon the box M so as to fitinside of said lugs 7) b, and a bolt m passing through the said fork andlugs and also through an eccentric of, which [its between the lugs 7) l)and is swung by a lever n TVhen the box is set free at the other end, aswill now be described, and the eccentric 12. is loosened by swingingback the lever 02 the box swings back on the bolt m, carrying with itthe supporting-bars M. The office of the eccentric 12, is to tighten thebox M in its working position. The locking apparatus at the other end ofthe suction-box (see Fig. 4) consists of two lugs 7/ 6 cast upon thecylinder B, a swivel-pin a, pivoted by a bolt 12 to the said lugs b Ifand embraced by forked arms a 72, which are cast upon the box M and areheld in the position embracing said swivel-pin by a nut a working on ascrew-thread on the end of said swivel-pin and operated by a handle a".

The ofice of the screw E, as has perhaps already appeared, is to carryforward in the cylinder or through the cylinder and exterisions thereofthe more solid parts of the contents of the cylinder; but this the screwsometimes fails to do, owing to the moist and slippery nature of suchmaterial or substance. The greasy mass is apt to turn with the screwwithout being moved forward. This difficulty is in part remedied by thefrictional resistance imparted to the mass by the above mentionedsuction-boxes M M, a pull or suction being exerted upon the mass in adirection substantially at right angles to force exerted by the screw.Another device for imparting frictional resistance to the slipperymaterial held in the thread of the screw consists of certain movablepieces of metal, which I term vibrating fins P P, whose movements intoand out of the mass are controlled by the screw acting upon their edgesautomatically. These fins are very numerous and v are placed in pairsabout the screw, (see Fig. 1,) so that a separate fin works in eachinterval between two screw-threads. They are made of soft metal and havetheir peripheries cam-shaped, as shown, so as to follow with anup-and-down or in-and-out vibrating motion the convolutions of thescrew, the points and heels of the fins dipping into the wet andslippery mass forced-forward by the screw between the threads and risingtherefrom successively one fin from another, so that the materialbetween the screw-threads is struck l by the fins in various positions.They are so M in this figure, as stated above, is

resets secu red to the cylinder that they and the mechanisms by whichthey are attached may be readily removed. One form of these fins, withaccon'ipzmying parts, is shown in detail at Fig. 3, where P is the finpivoted upon axis P, as shown. B is the cylinder. P 1. are long guideslet into the cylinder, as shown, for two fins and held in place byscrew-bolts if P", secured by nuts P P". A long cap P covers the saidtwo guides P P and the space in which the fin works, as shown, beingheld in place by a lever P, forked at Q where it is pivoted on apivot-pin q, held in place by nuts The other end of lever P is forked at7" to embrace a swivel-pin P, pivoted on pivot 1 and held in place inthe fork g" of lever P by a nut P working on a screw-thread on the endof swivel-pin l and provided with a hand-leverld". The pivot-pin 1 hasbearings in shoulders l and the pivot 17' has bearings in shoulders lthe said shoulders P' and 1 being cars or lugs east on the guides P P.

The cylinder l5 has been described as a cylinder with an extension orextensions. it is obvious, however, that the cylinder with itsextensions may be considered as a single piece of apparatus or as acylinder containing a screw which does not reach to its end, but leavesa projection containing a chamber beyond the end of the screw, intowhich material forced forward by the screw may accumulate and finally beremoved by other devices.

As before stated, the conveying and pressing apparatus above describedis particularly adapted for use in connection with therendering plant.

The operation is as follows: The digester A is supposed to be full oftankage and hot water and the tank N" is supposed to be full of watermore or lessheated and all stean1- pressure has been blown off from theentire apparatus. The handle J is turned and the valve K brought to itsseat at L, thereby closing the cylinder and rendering the systemconsisting of the cylinder and all apparatus heretofore described asconnected therewith water-tight. The valve N" is next opened and thecylinder fills with water from the tank N. The screw U is now startedand the valve in pipe A is opened, when the tankage or whatever materialother than water may be in the digester descends through the pipe A andfirst (.lisplacing so far as may be the water in the cylinder throughthe perforated plates and suction-boxes gradually fills the screw (1 andgradually packs in the space B between the end of the screw and saidvalve K, forming a stopper to the cylinder. The valve l; is finallyopened and the pressed material as a continuously-forming stopper passesforward under the force of the screw against the retired valve into theextension l3", whence broken up by the blades K K of the valve it passesout of the conveyor and presser through the outlet at B to a dryingmechanism or dryifig-platform. (Not shown.) When the valve in the largepipe A, is opened, the valves N N and N are opened and the pump N isstarted, and the valve N is opened as often as it may be necessary.

This application is a division of my application, Serial No. 209,553,filed May 2st, 1904:, in which the herein-described conveying andpressing apparatus is shown and described as used with a renderingplant, the object of this application being a separate patent for suchconveying and pressing apparatus independent of its use with a renderingplant.

I. claim.

1. In a conveying and pressing apparatus adapted to convey and pressmaterial saturated with and accompanied by water, the combination of awater-tight cylinder provided with a long carrying-screw fitting theinternal periphery of said cylinder and adapted to re volve therein,perforated plates let into said cylinder, suction-boxes adapted to workin connection with said perforated plates, a projection or extension ofsaid cylinder beyond said carrying-screw, an outlet to said cylin- (101'in said extension, and a valve having its seat in said extension betweenthe end of said carrying-screw and said outlet at some distance fromsaid screw, adapted to open or close said outlet substantially asdescribed.

2. In a carrying and pressing apparatus adapted to convey and pressmaterial saturated with and accompanied by water, the combination with awater-tight cylinder provided with a carrying-screw filling the internalperiphcry of said cylinder and adapted to revolve therein, perforatedplates let into said cylinder, suction-boxes adapted to work inconnection with said perforated plates, a projection or extension ofsaid cylinder beyond said carrying-screw, an outlet in said extensionand a valve having its seat in said extension between the end of saidcarrying-screw and said outlet, of vibrating plates or fins adapted tovibrate into and out of the interstices be tween the threads of saidearrying-screw, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a water-tight cylinder provided with acarrying-sorewfitting the inner peri )hery thereof and adapted torevolve therein, and perforated plates let into said cylinder, ofvibrating plates or fins adapted to vibrate to and from the intersticesbetween the threads of said carrying-screw, substantially as described.

4-. In a carrying and pressing apparatus adapted to operate uponsubstances saturated with and accompanied by water, the combination of awater-tight cylinder, carrying a screw fitting its internal peripheryand adapted to revolve therein, perforated plates let into saidcylinder, suction-boxes adapted to draw water from said cylinder throughsaid 1 erforated plates, and vibrating plates or fins adapted to vibrateto and from the interstices between the threads of said screw,substantially as described.

5. In a conveying and pressing apparatus for handling tanliageconsisting essentially of a long cylinder and a screw fitting theinternal periphery of said cylinder and adapted to revolve therein, thecombination with said cylinder of removable perforated plates andremovable suction-boxes adapted to drawwater IO from said cylinderthrough said perforated plates, substantially as described.

CHARLES STOREY WHEELWRIGHT. Witnesses:

WM. B. MOMILLEN, JOHN T. FISHER, Jr.

